As the author of the article “Weakening dollar means buying power for foreign tourists in U.S.” has noted, the foreign tourists visiting United States benefit from the weakening dollar because they are able to spend more money not because the buying power of one dollar has increased or the prices went down, but because the exchange rates are different. The article is based on the testimonies from tourists from versatile countries who are very pleasantly surprised with the ability to afford more goods and visit places that were too expensive for them before. Even the prices for air tickets are better and less expensive.
If to look back at the event of September 11, it is possible to attribute the weakening dollar to the overall economic slowdown. The number of tourists has much declined and several industries were forced to slow down their operations. For example, in December the percent decline was following:
| Hotel/Motel Revenue | 19.4% |
| Consumer Confidence | 14.9% |
| Hotel/Motel Occupancy | 10.2% |
| Travel Agent Sales | 8.9% |
Of course, today the situation is not as bad and, in fact, the number of tourists is increasing as well as revenues of the industry. One of the problems is that the American tourists are able to buy fewer goods for the same amount of dollars on their visits to the European countries because the exchange rate has changed not in their favor. The most impacted sectors are:
- Hotel/Motel Occupancy Rates
- Hotel/Motel Room Revenue
- Revenue Passenger Miles
- Employment in Air Transportation and Transportation Service Industries
- Rental Car Travel and Mileage per-day Index
- Total Travel Agent Sales
- Retail Sales in Eating and Drinking Establishments
- Consumer Confidence Index
From the economic standpoint, the weakening of dollar has negative impact on the position of United States in the global economy and the possibilities to cooperate with the foreign suppliers. However, from the standpoint of tourism, the weakening of dollar has a positive impact on the number of tourists. Foreigners are willing to visit United States and buy goods they could not afford before. If to think for a moment, the exchange rates have not changed so much recently and people do not get much more dollars for the same amount of currency. The feeling they get about being able to afford more is false to some extent, but the change in few dollars is like the discount and tourists spend more money anyway, improving the economic well-being of United States.
Of course, not everybody is satisfied and the weakening dollars is not beneficial for all foreigners. For example, the tourists from Rome claim that it is still cheaper in Italy. For the last six months the exchange rate for dollar with the base currency euro has not been steady.
It is cleat that euro is stronger to dollar, however, it does not indicate that euro as the currency has became stronger or that the dollar became weaker because of euro. The dollar is getting weaker due to the domestic economic situation and the European tourists benefit from such situation.
Works Cited
“Weakening dollar means buying power for foreign tourists in U.S.” USA Today 15 Dec 2003. 18 Feb 2006 <http://www.usatoday.com/travel/news/2003-12-15-foreign-tourism_x.htm>.